Wastewater district loses millions to biosolids boondoggle

In 2005, Atlanta-based EnerTech Environmental Inc. sold the Orange County Sanitation District and waste treatment plants from Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties on a way to turn their biosolids – it is what it sounds like – into clean-burning coal-like pellets.

But the Enertech plant in Rialto was closed for repairs more than it was open. And in October it went belly up with $150 million in debt and not nearly enough assets to cover the bill.

“This is a painful ‘oops,' a good idea that didn't work,” said Geoff Berman, with Development Specialties Inc., a Los Angeles company that is helping to liquidate the plant.

The Orange County Sanitation District dropped EnerTech in June, but not before spending $3.5 million more than it should have to get rid of its biosolid wastes, according to Jim Colston, the district's environmental compliance manager.

Colston doesn't consider it a loss, though. Things could have been much worse. OCSD could have invested in the EnerTech plant, rather than just being a customer, Colston said.

Although the contract with OCSD was signed in 2005, the plant didn't come online until 2008.

The Orange County district generated about 750 wet tons per day of biosolids, sending about a third to EnerTech. The rest was used for composting or spread on rural land that did not produce anything for human consumption.

Sounds good, except that the EnerTech plant kept breaking down, forcing it to send the waste to Arizona, to be spread out on rural land. Basically, EnerTech was charging high-tech rates for old tech methods.

Orange County got a chance to dump the contract in 2011, but gave the biosolids plant another chance.

Part of the attraction was Orange County needed a way to creatively handle all the B.S. – that's right, biosolids – it was creating.

“This looked like a bargain,” said Colston. “Orange County Sanitation District is always looking for new technology.”

No longer beholden to the EnerTech deal, OCSD is saving up to $1.5 million a year on its biosolids handling, Colston said. It now sends 10 percent to a landfill, 40 percent to composting and 50 percent to be spread on rural land – at least until the next good idea comes along.

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